undying Sunflowers
by S'moreo1235
Summary: Have you ever wondered what the other kids at camp do on a daily basis? Well, find out by reading this heart-grabbing, knee-slapping, all out GOOD story of a daughter of Apollo's journey through her first year at camp with besties, crushes, spiders, drama, truth-or-dare, and fun for everyone!
1. Chapter 1

**This is my first fanfiction. I hope y'all like it!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own PJO or HOO in any way possible! I own the plot and the** **characters you haven't heard of. I do not own characters like Percy, Annabeth, Leo, etc.**

**Chapter 1: Surprise!**

"Richy, can you come out here." I said trying not to move to quickly.

"What?" he said from inside the house sounding irritated.

Richy is and has been my best friend since sixth grade. His signature style, a Marist beanie and an unexplained limp, keep him noticeable. He's naturally tan, has big, dark, bushy eyebrows and hair, and dark wide eyes.

"Wow." He gasped when he stepped outside. Because standing in my mothers flower garden on Manhattan Island, NY was a huge, muscled, tattooed, 11 feet tall giant. "Mrs. L. You should come out here NOW." He said just above a whisper. "And bring the knife." He emphasized the word 'the'.

My mom ran out holding a black knife by the blade. She threw it to me, I don't know how, but I caught it. Just as the giant was about to pancake-a-size me with its frying pan sized fist, I summer-salted toward the beast chest and stabbed him. Before I knew what I had done, the giant said "Uh oh." And crumbled away into golden dust.

"Get. In. The. Car." My mom said almost yelling. When we got in, I asked her what that was, but she just told me to be quiet and let her focus on the road.

Richy was mumbling things like, "Why now…so unexpected…Not even ready." I thought it was better to just not bother him. In almost an hour, we were near Long Island Sound. I knew because I saw street signs and heard waves. We passed a few signs that said: 'Pick you own strawberries! Dead ahead!' My mom stopped our 2004 Volvo just underneath a steep hill with a huge Pine tree at the top.

"This is as far as I can go Lilly." She said.

Oh, if I forgot to mention, my name is Lilly Lament, I am thirteen years old, and I LOVE sushi. My mom and dad met at a Beetles concert a long time ago. When my mom was pregnant with me, my dad had to go on a business trip to Tokyo. He owned some of the biggest labels there. He called my mom and told her that he was never coming back. But I guess he did come back to see me at least once, because I remember a warm smile or a friendly glow around him.

I gave my mom a really big hug. Normally I would argue and say that she had to come, but I knew she was right. Richy and I trudged to the top of the hill in silence. When we got to the top, I looked back over to see that my mom was crying heavily. I wanted so badly to go and comfort her, but as if Richy could read my thoughts, he held me back.

When I looked down the opposite side of the hill, I saw a sky blue four-story farmhouse. The smell of fresh strawberries, my favorite, wafted up through the breeze. I walked down toward the house with Richy. I don't know why, but at that moment, I looked down at his feet and realized that they weren't there. Neither were his pants. All that there was were his fur-covered legs. For some reason, this didn't surprise me. It definitely wasn't the strangest thing I've seen all day.

Richy and I walked up to the porch of the house to see a pudgy little man in a leopard print Hawaiian shirt and an old man in a wheel chair with his long gray hair pulled back into a pony tail. It seemed like they were playing E.R.S with invisible players.

"Ah, another one already!" the pudgy man said angrily.

"Come on Dionysus," said the old man. "Be a little kinder."

"Excuse me," I said. "Did you say Dionysus? Like the Greek god Dionysus?"

"Yes, yes I know. You are very honored to be in my presence yadda yadda blah blah blah." He said.

"Never mind him," said the old man. "My name is Chiron, trainer of heroes. What is yours?"

"I'm Lilly," I said. "Lilly Lament."

"Ah yes. You killed the lastrygonian!"

"The what?" I asked nervously.

"Oh, well you have heard of the Greek gods and goddesses. Right? Well if you haven't, they were supposedly ways for humans to make sense of things that they couldn't explain. What they didn't know is that they really hit the nail on the head. Those Greek gods and goddesses are actually real. They move to the strongest country in their time, so now they're in America."

He must've seen my confused expression and he said, "Richy, please take Lilly to cabin 11. Carley, Connor, and Travis Stoll will explain everything else."

And with that, Richy led me toward the woods.

**Well, I hope you liked it. My next chapter will be up by tomorrow or Sunday.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I do not own PJO or HOO in any way possible! I own the plot and the** **characters you haven't heard of. I do not own characters like Percy, Annabeth, Leo, etc.**

Chapter 2: the 'grand' tour

When Richy and I got to the woods, we saw people fighting with swords on bridges over our heads, and people jumping from tree to tree with out touching the ground. There were also a couple of campers fighting what looked to be giant scorpions.

Richy and I walked, or trotted, toward a 'U' shaped semi-circle of cabins. One was made completely out of granite. With seashells and sand dollars on the side. Above the doorframe was a coral #3. I peeked through the open doorway and saw that only one bed was occupied. When we reached cabin #11, I walked through and saw at least 30 kids with sleeping bags strewn all over the floor. A girl not much older than I came to greet us. She was short, thin, tan, had elfish mischievous features, and short honey colored hair. She gave a single shout, "Conner! Travis!" and two older boys, about 14 by the looks of it came running toward us. I noticed that they all had the same features; the hair, pointed ears, and mischievous smiles.

"Hi, I'm Carley Stoll. These are my two older twin brothers, Conner and Travis." Said the girl.

"Hi, I'm Lilly Lament." I replied.

"Lilly hasn't been claimed yet so…" said Richy.

"Being the cabin of the god of travelers and thieves and other stuff, she has to stay with us until she gets claimed." Finished Travis. Richy nodded.

"Well, we'll get you a sleeping bag before tonight," said Carley. "For now, I'll tell you everything Chiron didn't."

I followed her out of the cabin and into the courtyard. "First things first, these are the cabins. You are put in your cabin based on your godly parent. Those who come and are not yet claimed, come to our cabin." I raised my hand. "Please keep all questions until we come to the end of the tour." She continued, "Do you remember how in all those 'myths' gods and goddesses were always coming down to earth and having kids with mortals?" I nodded. "Well, if you're here, you are the outcome of one of those relationships." We were now well into the forest. "What we do here, is train for quests. To get a quest, you have to go into the attic of the big house and ask for one from the oracle of Delphi. We train here at this camp because of the magical border powered by Thalia's tree that keeps monsters out. One time, before I came here, Luke, my half brother, poisoned the tree. He knew that poisoning the tree would weaken the camps defenses and let monsters in. he happened to be in league with Kronos, the head titan. But don't worry; Clarisse, Percy, and Annabeth went on a quest to find the Golden Fleece to heal the tree. They did and now everything is peachy keen."

We were out of the woods and standing a lake. "This is the canoe lake. The naiads live here and there is the blob. I guess they wanted some sort of camp element here. The thing is, the jump from the platform has always been so high, 200 feet; that only Percy has jumped off. You should have seen how high Tyson went. And he's a Cyclops! But I guess they had nothing to worry about because they are the children of Poseidon after all."

"Alright, any questions?" she asked as we came up on a volleyball court.

"Just one." I said.

"Fire away."

"Wanna play?" I asked holding up a volleyball.

We found some dryads, tree spirits, to play with us. Soon it was us, three girls from Demeter, Richy, and a boy from Aphrodite against the nature spirits.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3: Capture the flag.

When the game ended, half-bloods 6 dryads 4, Carley and I went to the arts and crafts hall. She pointed out to me 2 daughters of Aphrodite. She suggested I go introduce myself. One was tall, thin, and had long auburn hair. The other was shorter, just as thin and tan, and had short honey colored hair. "Hi." I said making it apparent I was talking to them.

"Bonjour." Said the tall one not looking up.

"Aloha." Said the shorter one.

"Sorry, I'm Amelia!" said the tall one. "Amelia Cour-de-Lionne"

"And I'm Maggie," said the other one. "Maggie Lemieux"

We talked about camp and boys (I didn't know any) and training and makeup. I found out that Amelia likes to use a knife, but Maggie prefers a spear.

As Carley and I were about to go back to cabin 11 to get ready for dinner, a conch horn sounded. We started running back to the cabin. "11 LINE UP!" Travis shouted. We lined up by rank so naturally I was dead last. When we got to the dinning pavilion, a flat cement floor with Greek columns and no ceiling, I found out where the barbeque smell was coming from. Crispy Brisket and juicy fruits were being passed around the tables. There were three tables where nobody sat (Artemis, Zeus, and Hera), but all the people in the Hermes cabin were crowding onto the number 11 table. I sat at the end next to Carley with half my butt sticking off.

As the pork came around the smell was enough to shatter my senses. I realized I hadn't eaten since that morning, and took two pieces. After everyone had gotten their food, they started to get up. I followed the line to a HUGE hearth the size of a bath tub. Everyone was scraping the juiciest fruit or the meatiest rib into the fire. I followed Carley. She told me it was an offering to the gods. When she got to the fire, she put the largest rib in and said,

"For Hermes."

I put in my biggest strawberries and grapes and since I didn't know who to give it to I said, "who ever you are, please help me to try." After dinner, two flags were being carried toward the pavilion. One colored gaudy red with a bull's head and two crossed spears (Ares), the other was 'storm-cloud' gray with an owl (Athena). Athena's cabin had made alliances with the two biggest cabins: Hermes and Apollo, as well as the smallest cabin: Poseidon. Ares cabin had everybody else. I wasn't too worried about a lot of them. Demeter, Dionysus, and Aphrodite were no big deal. Hephaestus and Aries were a different story all together. Hephaestus kids had HUGE muscles from working in the forge all day, and Ares had all the meanest, ugliest, and strongest kids you've ever seen.

Chiron came to the front in his horse form and said, "No maiming or killing. Both flags must be visible. The river is the boundary. Enjoy!" With a wave of his arms, battle armor and weapons appeared on every table. He gave us a minute to select our weapons. The only thing I was familiar with was a knife, so I grabbed one. I felt it wasn't enough so I grabbed a bow and quiver as well. I put the knife in my sock so I could carry the bow. I slung the quiver of arrows over my shoulder and a blonde from Apollo eyed me suspiciously.

After that, I followed Carley and the Hermes cabin along with the Athena and Apollo cabins toward the south side of the woods as the Ares group headed toward the north. Carley told me I was on flag defense. I was supposed to hide in a tree and shoot anyone that tried to get close to our flag. When we reached a small clearing, where the flag was, I climbed a tree where I could see the border but was well hidden and waited.

Another conch horn blast meant 'BEGIN' I loaded an arrow then remembered a story I had heard about some guy named Achilles and that he had a bad heel. I thought someone would get a kick out of that if I shot someone in the heel so I aimed lower. When I looked over at the river, I saw Carley on border patrol. Amelia had thrown her knife at Carley's shield, and I saw Maggie aiming for Carley. I wanted to warn her, but just then, as if on cue, a big girl, obviously from Ares (Clarisse La Rue), walked into the clearing. She eyed the flag thinking shed won, touching its smooth velvet texture.

I aimed the arrow with my right eye, held my breath, and fired. A surprised yelp from Clarisse made me know I'd hit my target. She must've seen where the arrow came from because after she yanked out the arrow, she looked in my tree straight at me. I was still getting over the fact I'd actually hit when I noticed she started shaking the tree. I lost my grip and fell out.

I ran toward the river. She was getting too close for comfort, so I shot with out looking. When I looked back, I was amazed to see I wasn't being chased anymore. Clarisse was lying on the ground clutching her shoulder. Just then. The blonde from Apollo ran across the river with the Aries flag. The picture immediately changed to a purple background with a golden lyre. Everyone cheered, and then stopped when they saw Clarisse on the ground. Chiron galloped over and bent down to help her get the arrow out of her arm. Then dropped her and started staring at me.

When I turned around I noticed that everyone was staring at me, well above me. I looked up and saw the same symbol as the flag, a small 'u' shaped harp, or lyre A.K.A. the symbol of Apollo.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4: new relatives

Richy helped me move my clothes **(A/N yah I know they weren't there before but they are now!)** into the Apollo cabin. Turns out, during the day, the Apollo and Artemis cabins look plain, but at night, the Artemis cabin shines so brightly silver its hard to look at, the same with Apollo but gold. Like I said before, the Apollo cabin is the second most highly populated, but nobody slept on the floor. The last bunk left, a top on the right, was mine. The walls were plastered with magazine cut outs of dance groups, bands, orchestras, doctors, suns, and singers. The floors, even if it wasn't covered in sleeping bags, had different yoga mats, clarinets, karaoke machines, et cetera. jumbled in different corners.

As I walked around toward my bunk, I saw trunks with stickers saying CIRCE'S ISLAND, ATHENS, MOUNT OTHRA, and HYDRA'S DEN. These kids had been here a long time. When I began to climb the ladder to my new bed, I saw the blonde from the food pavilion. Turns out, she was the bed underneath me. "Hi." I said wanting to make a good impression.

She looked up from her book. "Hi." she said. Then as if suddenly recognizing me, she said, "Oh, hi! I'm Hadley, Hadley Eloquent! What's your name?"

"I'm Lilly!" I said suddenly feeling welcomed. "Lilly Lament."

"Well," said Hadley. "It seems you're quite the sharp shooter. When I saw you grab that bow at the pavilion, I thought you were crazy! I never would've expected you shooting Clarisse! That took guts, but don't worry if she comes after you with that nasty electric spear. Will, the head counselor, is an awesome healer. And if that doesn't work, she got all of us," she gestured to the cabin with her hands. "To answer to."

"Wow, thanks!" I said, then thinking of my manners said, "Do you do archery too or…"

She seemed to see what I meant and said, "Well, yah. All of us, us being your half brothers and sisters, either use a bow and arrow or heal. But, we all have our stage talents too. Mines dancing, and you?" she asked sounding curious.

I was still confused with the first part of her sentence and asked, "Wait, so all the kids in this cabin are my half-siblings?" I was now hanging upside down from the top bunk.

"Yah," she replied "All of our dads our the same guy, Apollo. And everyone at the camp is your cousin. But its o.k. If you date one of your cousins here, no one would blame your for that. There are lots of kids dating here. Like Percy and Annabeth, they're cousins, but it doesn't matter because they're related on the godly side and gods don't have DNA."

"O.k." I said.

"So, back to my previous question, what's your talent? Besides shooting people in the ankle like Achilles?"

"So you noticed that?" I asked excitedly. "I thought that'd be funny, but I don't think anyone else saw the blood on her foot."

"Yah, I didn't know if you did that on purpose or what. But it was pretty funny. Anyways answer the question! DO. YOU. HAVE. A. STAGE. TALENT?"

Somebody shushed her and mumbled something about beauty sleep.

"Oh, go to the Aphrodite's pink and blue checkered door step!" she countered.

"Well," I said. "I don't know. I guess I've just always loved being heard and unique."

"Tomorrow, how about we go to the amphitheatre and figure it out?" she asked.

"Sounds perfect!" and on that happy note **(A/N Apollo pun, get it singing, note! HA!)** we tried to go to bed.

"Hey Lilly." Hadley whispered.

"Yah," I whispered back groggily.

"Do you think Hephaestus kids are hot?"

"Well, I know they have abs, why?"

"Oh no reason." She said.

"Goodnight then." I whispered.

"Goodnight."


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5: friends

The entire Apollo cabin woke to the sweet sounds of someone playing 'you are my sunshine' on the flute. I thought I could get used to it and started humming along as I made my bed and got dressed. I put on my khaki shorts with extra pockets and an old 'Autism Walk: Team Boone' T-shirt. Then, thinking today might be more active; I changed from khaki to bright pink running shorts with navy trim.

As I was slipping my pink neon Nikes over my green striped socks, Hadley walked in from an early morning swim looking me over. "Wow," she gasped. "The Aphrodite girls will scream when they see you," she paused as I frowned. "I love it!" she said with enthusiasm. My smile was back on as was the conch horn.

"7 LINE UP!" said a dark haired boy with freckles.

"That's Will Solace," said Hadley. "The new head counselor after Michael Yew. He was lost in the battle over Manhattan."

I stood up with a quizzical expression, but just followed her toward Will. "Hey Will!" called Hadley. "Meet your newest brotha from anotha motha."

"Hey, how are ya? I saw that Achilles in Clarisse. Nice!"

"Thanks!" I said. "I'm Lilly Lament."

"And I'm hungry, lets go to breakfast." He replied jokingly.

When we got to the dinning hall, all of the Ares kids glared at us as we walked in they definitely didn't wake up to a sonata of sweetness. As if in a silent pack, the whole cabin went and stood by their table in the 'Jersey Shore' pose. Will even took off his shirt. After that, the Ares kids, led by Clarisse, stood up as if to challenge us. "Amphitheatre, be there TONIGHT!" said Will right in Clarisse's ugly face.

"We're not scared of you little drama queens!" said Clarisse.

"Then we'll be expecting you!" Hadley said nonchalantly.

When we got to our table, we all started cracking up. Breakfast was fruit, toast with Nutella (yum), and eggs. I went up and scraped half of my eggs into the fire and said, "For Apollo."

After breakfast, as promised, Hadley and I made our way to the amphitheatre. Only a few people were there since everybody else had a schedule and Hadley was ignoring hers. There was a crazy Latino kid with serious abs dancing shirtless to 'I'm sexy and I know it'. Another buff guy was videoing him. I had a feeling they weren't supposed to be there either. We quickly walked up to the other side of the stage. "Well," Hadley said. "Show me what you got."

"What should I do first?" I asked.

The kid dancing on video must have heard me and said, "Join me!" I did, and it was so much fun! By the time the song was over, we were all more or less rolling on the floor laughing. "You guys are pretty good!" said the shirtless kid. "I'm Leo, I already know Hadley, and you're that girl that asked Clarisse to pulverize you. What's your name again?"

"My name's Lilly. And I didn't ask her to pulverize me as you say, I just shot the wrong person with an arrow."

"And then your entire cabin challenged hers," he breathed in sharply. "I gotta say, not the brightest strategy."

"And yours wasn't either," said the camera kid. "Wow, 15,000 hits already!"

"WHAT!" screamed Leo.

"Hi Lilly, I'm Jacob Steele, son of Hephaestus. And that angry Latino is Leo Valdez, my half-brother." Said camera kid Jacob ignoring Leo.

"Well," said Hadley. "We're trying to find Lilly's stage talent before tonight. You guys wanna help?"

"Sure," said Jacob. "But I have to tell you, its not dancing."

"Wait, I'm not in that video am I?" I asked nervously.

"Yes, now by tomorrow, 'crazy shirtless Latino and insane white girl dancing to I'm sexy and I know it' will be number one on youtube.

"NOOOOOOOO!" Leo and I screamed in unison. Of course, Hadley and Jacob didn't notice. Hadley was feeling Jacob's muscles as he flexed for her. Leo and I raised eyebrows at each other.

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" I asked.

"I am if you're thinking that I have great abs." He said doing a weird little belly dance.

"No," I said impatiently. "Look at Jacob and Hadley."

"Oh." He said. And I was 97% sure we were thinking the same thing.

"Sorry to break up your little flirt-o-rama," yelled Leo. "But don't we still have to find Lilly's talent?"

"Oh, right." Said Jacob and Hadley together. They giggled as Leo and I rolled our eyes.

Leo jumped off the stage and put on his shirt as Hadley and Jacob tried to compose them selves. "Well," started Hadley. "We can rule out dancing. So, try acting. Do improv scene 'party guests'." Leo whispered something in Hadley's ear then ran back stage. "Alright, Lilly, Leo already told me his character. The point of this exercise is to act like a character, and try to have someone, the host, guess whom you are. Jacob will be the host. Now come down and tell me who you want to be."

I didn't know whom to choose, and then I remembered a funny movie I had seen with my mom a while ago. So I whispered to her ear, "bubble boy." I ran backstage with Leo and he told me he had chosen Lady GaGa. I almost smacked my self for thinking of something so stupid.

"Ding Dong," Hadley said, "Jacob, your first house guest is here."

Leo pulled his shirt over his head and walked in. "Don't judge me, I was born this way." He said.

"Oh, come on Leo." Complained Jacob. "Make it at least a little challenging. You're obviously Lady GaGa."

"No, that was good Leo. The point is to try to get them to guess." Said Hadley. Leo leapt off the stage removing his shirt once again. "Ding Dong, your next guest is here Jacob." Said Hadley.

I walked in and started walking around like a hamster in a ball. I didn't know what else to do. "Okay, I don't understand and I know what you're supposed to be." Said a confused Leo.

"Stop!" said Hadley "Try singing."

"What was she supposed to be?" asked Jacob.

"Bubble boy." Said Hadley. He looked at me confused and I shrugged my shoulders. "Now," said Hadley. "Sing a song. Hmmm. Broadway!" she nodded.

I only knew a couple of Broadway worthy plays. I picked Annie and started singing an excerpt of 'Maybe'.

"_Bet ya he reads,_

_Bet ya she sews,_

_Maybe, she's made me a closet of clothes._

_Maybe they're strict as straight as a line,_

_Don't really care, as long as they're mine."_

"STOP!" yelled Hadley. I thought I had blown another potential talent when she says, "That was awesome!" Leo, Jacob, and Hadley applaud wildly and I take a couple bows toward each of them. Just then, the lunch horn sounds and we're all sprinting back to the food pavilion.


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer: I do not own PJO or HOO in any way possible! I own the plot and the** **characters you haven't heard of. I do not own characters like Percy, Annabeth, Leo, etc.**

Chapter 6: coolest. Weapon. EVER

When we all got back to the food pavilion, we found out that this little challenge had sprung into a fully-fledged war. We had allegiances from the Hermes, Hephaestus, Poseidon, Athena, and Aphrodite cabins. While Clarisse and those pigs she calls family had allegiances with Demeter and Dionysus. Even Chiron knew, he canceled all the after lunch classes just so we could practice. The actual challenge would happen after dinner.

For lunch, we had grilled tofurkey burgers and ceaser salad. When we scraped some of our food into the fire, I asked my father to help me see the best in others. After lunch, each cabin went to go practice their strengths. Will wanted to see my talent, so he brought the whole cabin to the amphitheatre. They all sat on the paved floor. "Alright, Lilly. Show us what ya got!" said Will.

"What should I sing?" I asked.

"Hmmm. How about 'Call me maybe'?" he retorted receiving many approving nods.

"_I through a wish in the well,_

_Don't ask me I'll never tell._

_I looked to you as it fell,_

_And now you're in my way._

_I'd trade my soul for a wish,_

_Pennies and diamonds or a kiss,_

_I wasn't looking for this,_

_But now it's in my way."_

"Keep going!" urged everyone.

"_Your stair was holding',_

_Red sheen skin was showing',_

_Hot night wind was blowing,_

_Where ya think ya going baby?_

_Hey I just met you,_

_And this is crazy,_

_But here's my number,_

_So call me maybe."_

Splendiferous applause sounded through the amphitheatre. When we were making our way to the archery range, we saw Clarisse and her goons spread out. As if they were on watch, waiting for something. There was at least one Ares camper at every activity. Even arts and crafts, attempting and failing to build birdhouses with their meaty hands. Clarisse was over at the rock wall, trying to climb with out being smashed or scorched. Richy was there too, his goat legs propelling him up the wall with ease. When he saw us passing by, he trotted over.

"Hey, Lilly!" he said. "Hmmm. I just realized how much of a Demeter name 'Lilly' is, but I guess your last name makes up for it. 'Lament' isn't that like a note or something?"

"Or something." I replied.

"Cool!" he said enthusiastically. "We just wanted you guys to know that all the satyrs and wood nymphs are totally cheering for Apollo. Do you know how many trees Ares has killed with wars? And that he's actually happy about it!" he said disgustedly. "Well, I don't know if he's especially happy about the trees. But he doesn't care either!"

"Well than, uh, Richy," said Will. "We hope to see you at the challenge tonight."

"Yah!" said Richy. "All the naiads are even coming from the lake to watch!"

After Richy left, I felt relieved to know that my best friend was backing me up. I guess he was going to anyways, but still.

We got to the archery range and everyone started shooting perfect bullseyes. Will said I would have to go to the Hephaestus cabin basement into the forges and get my own bow. Hadley and I walked toward the cabins in silence. When we got there, Jacob was the only one. We told him that we needed him to help us with a bow.

"So, you think I'm just gonna help you then?" he asked.

"No, we were hoping to borrow some toilet paper." I said sarcastically.

"Yes," Said Hadley ignoring me. "You know, cousin to cousin."

"Alright," he said and let us in. "just come back here." We did and we saw two sliding metal doors with a complicated Greek number keyboard. Jacob typed in a little 6-digit code and the doors slid open revealing an elevator. When the doors closed behind us, he slid a key card into a slot. Buttons appeared on the wall. He pushed the last one and we began to travel downward. I had always hated small spaces and underground. But now that we were all stuck in the little elevator for what seemed like hours, I could tell we were going further down than a normal basement.

When the doors finally opened, I ran out of that little tin can of death and into the open room. Room doesn't actually begin to describe what it was. It had very high ceilings stocked to the top with weapons categorized by deadliness. Everything from slingshots to tazers, spears to sledgehammers, and so on and so forth. He walked over to the 'death with minor pain' pile and took out a bow about my size. He held it up next to me, it just reached my neck.

"Too big." He mumbled

We went through this process many times until he found one that just reached my armpit. He handed it to me along with a quiver and told me to fire at will. I aimed for and shot a light bulb. It felt funny.

"It feels funny." I said.

"Well, that's the only one of that size I have." He said.

"Hmmm. I guess I could make you a costume one. But it might take me at least an hour." He said nervously, as if I'd say no. Ha!

"That sounds great!" I said. "An hour is no time at all! Do you want me to watch or just go do something else?"

"You can just go do something else." He said as if in deep thought.

(1 hour later)

When I saw my new bow and quiver filled with normal, lead, celestial, and sonic arrows I almost fainted! The bow was silver with golden details of suns and music notes. The quiver was also silver with the same golden markings. To top it all off, Jacob said he tricked it out so that to say, 'kontá' would make it turn itself into a silver chain bracelet with a golden sun in the middle. The same with the quiver, but instead of a bracelet, it turned into a simple golden ring. He also told me that saying, 'anoíxete' would turn it into bow again. He had named the weapon, 'kríno tou îlio' (lily of the sun).

When I got back to the archery range, will asked me where my new bow was. I just held out my wrist, when he looked confused, I said, "anoíxete" he looked so proud. I shot one of my lead tipped arrows at a target and hit the bullseye.


	7. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer: I do not own PJO or HOO in any way possible! I own the plot and the** **characters you haven't heard of. I do not own characters like Percy, Annabeth, Leo, etc.**

**Chapter 7: history repeats itself**

When we had all finished archery practice for two hours, we decided to do something a little more difficult. We walked into the woods and started aiming for smaller targets. Hadley even hit a leaf-bug. Hadley and I decided to go further into the woods. We asked if anybody else wanted to come, but they stayed.

The woods are fully stocked with monsters so that everyone could practice real life situations. We heard the shuffling of many legs and climbed a tree. When we got to the very top, we could see Festus the happy bronze dragon flying around. But when we looked down, we saw two HUGE hairy tarantulas with big ugly pinchers.

Hadley was about to taunt them and get their attention when I clamped her mouth shut and reminded her that spiders could climb trees. We each notched an arrow and fired. I hit one on the butt, remembering that was were bugs hearts are. It rolled over and stiffened as soon as the arrow pierced its hide. (I wondered why it didn't explode into golden dust.) Hadley had no such luck, she hit its head and the arrow bounced off harmlessly, alerting it of our presence.

As it began to ascend the tree we were in, Clarisse jumped out of a nearby ravine and stabbed it with her electric spear 'maimer' (nicknamed lamer). She just glared at us and said, "If your planning on playing with stuff like this, know how to kill it first." We jumped out of the tree and ran to tell Will and the other Apollo campers what we saw.

When we got back, Meg Giry asked us what had happened since Clarisse had come through hauling carcass. I told everyone everything, from hearing the 'feet' to almost being spidey chow.

"Hmmm," said Will. "There aren't any giant spiders in this forest. Are you positive?"

We stared at him like he had just fallen from the moon.

"Oh, of course you're positive, you were just almost killed. But there aren't supposed to be any because if one of Athena's kids came across one, they'd either become paralyzed in their tracks, be hunted down especially, or both." Said Will sounding concerned. "You know because of Arachne and all her children wanting to kill all of Athena's children." We nodded. "Lets go talk to Chiron about this."

On our way to the big house, a girl from Demeter named Sophie Lung stopped us. "Hey, I just wanted to let you guys know, that even though my cabin is against you guys, I'm all for it. I agree with the satyrs, Ares kills too many plants with his wars. So, GO APOLLO!"

"Uh, thanks. It's nice to know that at least one of you guys is on our side."

When we got to the big house, Mr. D was nowhere in site. Chiron said he was running an errand on Mount Olympus so he was here by himself. We told him about the spiders and with every other detail, his expression continued to get darker and darker. When we finished, he was frowning so much that I was half afraid his face would stick like that. When he finally spoke, his voice was melancholy and depressed.

"This sounds like a large problem. Either someone invited them in, or the boundaries are fading again." Said the old centaur.

"Well the borders can't fail," said Hadley. "We have the Golden Fleece."

"Yes, I do not wish to believe someone would do this, but it seems that history is repeating itself. I suggest that you call of your show with the Ares cabin until we get this sorted out. I will get our best archers, swordsmen, and spearers out there to form a search party and maybe find whom this deceiver is. No doubt that some of you will be there. Lilly, Hadley," he said addressing us. "You will be included since you discovered this problem, and you might be able to notice more things that we fail to see. For now, I want all of you to tell everyone to go back to their normal classes by my advice."

"Yes, Chiron." Said Will obediently.

When we left, we decided that the best way to spread the news quickly would be to go to each cabin, since there must be at least one person there, and ask them to go tell their siblings the bad news. We sent two people to each cabin. Hadley and I had the toughest job. We had to go to the Ares cabin, and of course, who should answer the door but the big-bad-she-wolf herself A.K.A. Clarisse La Rue.

"Hey cupcakes, finally come to thank me for saving your scrawny little butts?" she asked crudely.

"No, we've come to tell your that Chiron has asked that the challenge be postponed until we find the… the…" I didn't feel right telling her that someone might be betraying us.

"The traitor." Finished Hadley.

"Oh, I get it." Clarisse laughed with a triumphant expression. "You're backing out, you're scared. I always new Apollo was a scaredy pants, I never knew it was a family trait though." Thunder rumbled overhead.

"I don't think it's very wise to anger a god, much less a god who is your uncle." Said Hadley calmly.

"Well, whatever. I doubt history will repeat itself, but I'll ask Chiron what he said and if he did issue this proclamation, why." Said Clarisse slamming the door in our faces.

"Yep, nice to see you too, cuz." I said.

Hadley and I walked back to the tetherball and started hitting it to each other. I kept wondering why everyone was saying that history was going to repeat itself. Hadley must've seen my 'deep concentration' face because she said,

"What's wrong? Your quieter than usual."

"Well," I didn't know if I should ask. Ah, might as well, she's family. "I'm just wondering why everyone is saying that history is going to repeat itself, first Chiron, then Clarisse."

"Oh, that." She said with a sullen expression.

"You don't have to tell me if you don't want to." I said.

"Believe me, if I didn't want to, I wouldn't. About five years ago, a son of Hermes named Luke Castellan went about as bad as you can. He let a hellhound into the boundaries from the underworld, poisoned Thalia's tree, he even helped Kronos rise in the second Titan war." She said.

"Yah. Carley told me about him." I replied

"Well, the reason everyone is saying that history could repeat itself is because in our history, we've had too many traitors. Even in the past year. You've heard about Luke, he persuaded Silena Beauregard to spy for him, telling her that her boyfriend Charlie wouldn't be harmed. After he was killed, he threatened her that if she refused to keep spying, Luke would tell everyone that she had spied for him." Finished Hadley.

We hadn't realized how late it was getting until we heard the conch horn and saw everyone heading toward the food pavilion. When we got there, we sat down with the Apollo cabin. After we had gotten our food, sat down, made an offering to the gods, sat back down, finished eating, and the table was magically cleared everyone was listening attentively to Chiron.

"It has come to my attention that two Apollo campers and Clarisse came in contact with two of Arachne's largest offspring while wondering the woods for practice." Gasps could be heard all over, someone at the Athena table fainted. "Please, settle down. We have decided that schedules are to remain intact whilst no one is permitted to travel into the woods in groups less than five. You may come across some especially nasty monsters and we want you to be prepared." Approving sounds came from everywhere. "But, in order to stop this threat and let things get back to normal, I have made a list of the most lethal campers. The following will go into the woods on a night brigade and try to exterminate any unwanted monsters. They are: Clarisse La Rue, Jake Mason, Leo Valdez, Jacob Steele, Will Solace, Hadley Eloquent, Lilly Lament, Sophie Lung, Katie Gardiner, Piper McLean, Carley Stoll, Conner Stoll, Travis Stoll, Annabeth Chase, Jason Grace, Percy Jackson, and myself. These sixteen campers, though some have only been here a little while, carry the fate of camp half-blood with them as they embark on this treacherous mission." Cheers shot up through the entire pavilion.

"Yah," Hadley whisper spoke to me. "No pressure." And my face completely reflected what she had said.

**I'm working on the next chappie right now. It'll be up by Wednesday at the latest.**

**Peace*Love*Prayer* **


	8. Chapter 8

**Disclaimer: I do not own PJO or HOO in any way possible! I own the plot and the** **characters you haven't heard of. I do not own characters like Percy, Annabeth, Leo, etc.**

**Chapter 8: into the woods**

When his speech was over, Chiron had all of us: Clarisse, Jake, Leo, Jacob, Will, Hadley, Sophie, Katie, Piper, Carley, Conner, Travis, Annabeth, Jason, Percy and myself come to the front of the dinning pavilion so that the rest of camp could 'appreciate us properly'. It was mortifying. Even Leo didn't like that much attention.

After dinner, everyone went to the sing-a-long as usual. Though I assume it didn't have that much life since Will and Hadley weren't there. They usually lead it. When we got to the edge of the woods, a supposedly very serious moment, Clarisse said, "Well then, do we just go _into the woods_?" that sent Will, Hadley and I over the edge.

"_Into the woods with out regret,_

_The choice is made the task is set._

_Into the woods but not forgetting why I'm on the journey._

_Into the woods to get my wish,_

_I don't care how the time is now._

_Into the woods to sell the cow,_

_Into the woods to get the money,_

_Into the woods to lift the spell,_

_To make the potion,_

_To go to the festival,_

_Into the woods to grandmother's house._

_Into the woods to grandmother's house._

_The way is clear, _

_The light is good,_

_I have no fear nor no one should._

_The woods are just trees,_

_The trees are just wood._

_No need to be afraid there,_

_There's something in the glade there."_

All but Clarisse had joined in now.

"_Though its fearful,_

_Though it deep and though it's dark and though you may lose the path._

_If you want your wish, _

_You can have your wish,_

_But you can't just wish, _

_No to get your wish you go,_

_Into the woods were nothings clear,_

_Were witches ghosts and wolves appear._

_Into the woods and through the fear,_

_We have to take the journey._

_Into the woods and down the dell,_

_In vain perhaps but who can tell?"_

"SHUT UP!" yelled Clarisse.

"Just trying to lighten the mood. And you kind led into it by saying 'into the woods'". Piper countered.

Clarisse gave her a menacing _'I'll murder you later'_ look. Jake, Leo, and Jacob had brought head lamps with eight year light bulbs. We each grabbed one. It took a little while for everyone to adjust it to their head size (Clarisse's was the biggest. Ha!). We walked just passed the sword fighting bridges and were immediately surrounded by the same kind of huge spiders. Annabeth nearly jumped to the moon. Instead, she landed in a nearby tree. That left the rest of us and Chiron to fight the eight-legged demons. Bows were raised, bracelets transformed, pens were uncapped, coins flipped, and ancient looking-glass knives unsheathed.

"Aim for their butts!" I yelled as we sprung into action.

"Is that some kind of sick joke?" yelled Leo while punching one in the eye, temporarily blinding it.

"No, that's where there hearts are. Don't aim for the head attempting to do brain damage, their skulls are seriously hard." Said Hadley. "I speak from experience."

When we had killed all the giant spiders, Annabeth agreed to come down only if the carcasses were taken away. We were still trying to figure out why they weren't dissolving on contact with our celestial bronze weapons. After we dragged them away and Annabeth came down, we continued deeper into the forest. We came across some giant scorpions that disintegrated when they ate Anaklusmos, Percy's sword.

"I think that the only problems are the giant…" Annabeth gave Jason a deathly glare. "The giant, uh, eight-legged, uh, friends. Well, not friends but, yah." Annabeth nodded approvingly. "Well, it's beginning to get light. Tomorrow we'll look for their nest. Annabeth, I don't think you should come if it would scare you too much. What do you want to do?" asked Jason.

**(A/N Ah! I just spilled my coffee!)**

"Well, I'll stay at camp and the rest of the Athena cabin and I can make sure nobody tries to get into the woods at night. Some people were really mad that someone that's been here for as little a time as Lilly was chosen but not them." Said Annabeth eyeing me suspiciously.

"Lilly was chosen because she spotted the threat, and is a sure shot with a bow. If that will be all, you should all go back to your cabins it's getting light out. You may rejoin your schedules after you all feel well rested. It's been a long night." Said Chiron.

**Sorry this chapter is so short. It's so hard to right extra long ones. Check out , her stories are really good!**

**Peace*Love*Prayer***


	9. Chapter 9

**Disclaimer: I do not own PJO or HOO in any way possible! I own the plot and the** **characters you haven't heard of. I do not own characters like Percy, Annabeth, Leo, etc.**

**(I don't own Meg Giry either, she's from phantom of the opera but I liked the name so. Yah.)**

**Chapter 9: The nest, part. 1**

When Hadley, Will, and I got back to the Apollo cabin, everyone was asleep. As soon as our heads hit the pillows, we followed suit. The climb up the ladder to the top bunk was agonizing. I don't know if I've mentioned this, but half-bloods have some seriously weird dreams, and they usually mean something.

I dreamed that I was underground, or I guess in an up-side-down birds nest. I looked back and saw two giant spiders herding me toward a giant queen spider. It looked kind of like Eragog in 'Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets' except 10 times bigger and hairier than that. The spiders behind me bowed and exited. They left me standing before her. I was just getting ready to extract my bow. I reached for my wrist, but looked down to find that it had been taken. "Bow before your future queen!" the giant arachnid hissed.

"Areop-Enap," I didn't know how I knew, I just did. "I will never bow before you, eight-legged demon." I spat.

"Hmmm, I am only trying to help you on your hopelesssss quessssst." She hissed back. We were suddenly lifted into the air above the nest. I could see a big stone mountain with a '9' painted above the doorway. I could also see light filtering through the darkness and hear familiar whistling. I jumped off the platform and ran inside. There was Leo, wearing a seemingly empty tool belt, whistling to 'oh my darlin'. He was hunched over a long bronze figure.

_He's probably making Festus a girlfriend._ I thought to myself. Just as I turned back toward Areop-Enap, she jumped at my face with her pinchers, and I woke up screaming.

Judging by the sun in the skylights, and my alarm clock, it was around noon. Everyone was gone except Meg Giry. She said she was coming back to get her bow for archery with Chiron. Which reminded me, I don't have a schedule. When I got out of bed, I realized I was still wearing my camo hunting clothes. I changed into jean shorts, a Hollister T-shirt, and my navy Toms. Just in case I had archery, I made sure I was wearing my bracelet and ring.

When I got outside and started making my way to the big house, I noticed a girl around nine years old tending the flames in the courtyard. I stopped and we made idle chat. The girl was the goddess Hestia, and not many people stopped to talk to her. She had fire in her eyes. But not _You are a dead man _fire, just cozy.

I went to the big house and Mr. D was back. Everyone calls him Mr. D because names have power. He gave me a little smug smile and went back to playing B.S with table of invisible partners. I saw his move and "*cough* B.S *cough*". He grew a grape vine and I tripped on the porch. When I walked inside, I saw Chiron just getting ready to leave with a bow slung over his shoulder.

"Oh, hello Lilly. I was just leaving to go teach archery. Is there something I can do for you?" he said

"Hum, yes. I don't have a schedule." I stuttered.

"Oh, right. No camper is complete without one." He said handing me a piece of rolled up parchment. "Lunch is already over. If you want, you can skip your after lunch class and go eat." He said.

"Nah," I said looking at the schedule. "I like archery. If it were something like, battle strategy, I would go eat. I'm not that hungry anyways."

When Chiron and I got to archery, everyone stared at me like I fell off the moon. I probably looked like it too; I didn't brush my hair or even put it up in an elastic. I didn't brush my teeth or wash my face either. I actually haven't seen a mirror since yesterday morning. Hadley came up and whispered, "idée-spay ood-blay on de ace-fay." I ran to the lake and looked at my reflection. There was thick dry blood all over my face in splatters and lines. I quickly jumped in to get it off, and to wake up a little. As soon as I was under, I started scrubbing my face with my shirt.

When I got back up on the dock, I squeezed out my shirt and hair. I sure hope that kríno tou ílliou was waterproof. Carley had said we couldn't use phones, but she said nothing about ipods. I pulled out my touch and started kiking Jacob.

Me- is my bow waterproof

Jacob- and fireproof

Me- SWEET!

Jacob-well you being the daughter of the sun god, it makes sense.

Me- oh, right. Thx!

Jacob- ha-ha! Don't worry about it. I put some other enchantments on it too.

Me- cool! Like what?

Jacob- if it breaks, another just like it will pop out of the split.

Me- COOL!

Jacob- No problem.

Jacob- oh, by the way, it will self destruct if you say, vrachíona.

Me- Cool, but then what, I won't have a weapon.

Jacob- the shattered dust will follow you and come together when you're safe.

Jacob- sees, sweet enchantments

Me- coolio thx brah.

Jacob- no prob.

Me- hey, do you think I could go street.

Jacob- uh sure.

When I got back to archery, I told Hadley about my conversation with Jacob. Then, she told me something that NOBODY saw coming. That she and Jacob broke up! This skinny little blonde with deep hazel eyes could never be dumped, so I asked her why she dumped him and she said, "ah, I just wasn't feeling it. Isn't it weird to date your cousin anyway? I mean if all these guys wanna do it, that's fine but I don't." They rest of the lesson was crazy I hit a bull's-eye, then split my arrow with another, and again. But Hadley was totally out of it. She didn't hit the target once! We went back to the cabin and blew off the rest of our activities. Except for dinner and the sing-a-long. We told Chiron that we weren't feeling well and couldn't go with the hunting party tonight.

We led the campfire with songs like: Old hellhound Leary, the Drakon call, and Hadley's favorite; baby mandrake tree. She didn't sing or even do the movements. We got back to the cabin and she just lie down on her bed, said good night and since Will was gone, commanded lights out. The next morning, some new campers came. One was an almost ginger and he was put in the Hermes cabin (regular), then a blonde that Mr. D said was his son, a brunette girl for Athena, and a daughter and son of Poseidon. **(A/N I did this so its compatible with the real Jacob's story) **The almost ginger was Teo 'the swiper' Piper. Mr. D's son was named Isaac. Athena's kid was Peyton and Posiedon's kids names are Jackson and Caroline. I told Hadley we should go introduce ourselves. And I led her over toward their table with Chiron and Mr. D.


	10. Chapter 10

**I'm a mean author. I haven't updated in a week. Well, not exactly I'm doing summer reading with Anne Frank so, blame Mrs. Rice! Anyways, back to my story.**

**Disclaimer: do I look like a 54 year old man to you? If you're a child of Hermes, please don't answer that. 0o0# (HE WANTS THE WAFFLE!)**

**Chapter 10: The Nest, part 2.**

"The reason those kids were claimed as soon as they crossed the hill because of the agreement after the war." Hadley explained.

"Well why did it take Apollo so long to claim me? Like, half a day!" I said exasperatedly.

"That's actually not that long," said Hadley. "Remember, Apollo has the second highest rate of kids of all of the gods. That's a lot."

"Well. Still." I grumbled.

"_There is just one moon and one golden sun,_

_And a smile means friendship to everyone!"_

We heard eminating from the courtyard and decided to investigate.

"_Though the mountains divide,_

_And the oceans are wide,_

_It's a small world after all!"_

Carley was belting out from under the basketball hoop. Our entire cabin, being the children of the god of music, ran outside and joined along as well as the Hermes cabin.

"_It's a small world after all,_

_It's a small world after all,_

_It's a small world after all,_

_It's a small, small world!"_

The rest of the morning was uneventful. Until we came back to the cabin after lunch, there were three frogs and a lizard in the bathroom. Meg was on the toilet shrieking when she saw them. A normal sized frog, a huge frog, and a little baby frog. It was so cute! We left them, but Meg made us promise they would be out before we went to sleep.

After that, we went to the usual archery. But next was something way cooler! Pegasus riding! Percy taught that because his dad was the god of horses. Jackson and Caroline were learning with us, too. Hadley's Pegasus' name was Frenchy, like from Grease. I didn't know it was possible, but her horse was white with red hair. I guess that's why that was its name. Meg's Pegasus is Christine **(A/N get it! Like Meg Giry and Christine Diah from Phantom of the Opera! AHAHA!)**. Apparently, everyone has a Pegasus, so naturally the stables are as big as the lake. Also, gods are supposedly responsible for all of their children since the war. So each god has now sent each child a personal portable pony. Mine was pure white with golden hair. Her name was Blondie. She had a beautiful, 10 ft, pure white wingspan. She was perfect!

**(A/N I just wanted to make a correction of the most recent Winnie the Pooh. Owl said he was writing a memoir, when infact he was writing an autobiography. I know because he said that he started with; the birth of a genius and ended with; our most recent encounter, the Back Soon [bacsun]. And Mrs. Rice taught me at least one good thing besides the moonwalk. End A/N. Wow that was long. I'm just gonna start a new paragraph. Ok?)**

Percy thought I was a natural at flying. I might just be tootin' my own horn. (Beep ba beep ba beep beep beep) but I thought I did better than a lot of people. Hadley and I went around long island sound and over the strawberry fields. We also went over the forest and saw the Hermes cabin doing monster taunting. You can imagine that they were pretty good at it, too. I saw Carley get on Connor's back and start kicking a giant spider. Then I remembered that they WERE NOT supposed to be in there!

Hadley and I swooped down and explained the situation to Travis, along with the fact that they WOULD NOT burst into dust. Well, that didn't bode well. Travis repeated everything I said in a yell and everyone went absolutely round the bend! The new kid, Teo, climbed a tree and started beating his chest like Tarzan. Carley started riding the spider like a bull, Connor and Travis rubbed their temples as everyone else just ran around in circles screaming "Apocalypse!" then Connor must've snapped out of it because he started acting like a ninja trying to kick down a tree because he thought it was giving him the silent treatment. I said he snapped out, I didn't say he didn't snap back in to something else.

Chiron must've heard something because he came barreling through the brush in centaur form. Yelling at everyone to evacuate the forest and telling Hadley and I to go back to the stables, gather everyone for the hunting party, then meet him at the cabin courtyard. So we went back, got Will, split up to the different activities (I went to the water front), gathered everyone in the hunting party, and met back at the cabins. Chiron was there in full battle armor. He told us not to look pretty (like we try. Phst!) And put on our full armor. All I had was the bracelet and ring and I was pretty sure that wouldn't cut it, so I borrowed Hadley's extra.

We all walked back out and I saw Katie and Travis flirting. I told Leo and he said,

"They need a pet name."

"Wow Leo, they already have one. It's Tratie! Duh!"

"Oh, gods. I feel retarded." He said rubbing his neck. "Hey, what if the two people had the same first initial." I gave him a quizzical look and he explained, "Like you and me for example, Leo and Lilly. It'd have to be something like, uhm, Leoilly or Lillyo!" he said looking proud.

"Yah two problems with your mega plan brain man," I said, really hoping I did that on purpose and it wasn't just that I was too close to Hadley last time we cursed the Ares cabin. "1, we would never happen. And B, Lillyo, Seriously?"

"You just said 1 and B. Plus, come on! You know you wanna get with this!" he gestured to himself.

"Phst! Yah right!" I said.

"In fact," he said kneeling to the ground and taking my hands. "Lilly Lament, fairest and wittiest of them all, will you go on a date with me?" he said sarcastically.

"Oh Leo!" I said just as sarcastically playing along. "I would love to, however, sadly, my heart belongs to another!" I said taking my hands and placing them over my heart looking off into the tree line.

We had made a big show of ourselves and everyone was watching. Hadley and Will exploded into wild applause saying things like, "She could be an actress yet!" or, "gods, that was awesome! Broadway worthy!" we both bowed graciously and took each other's hand doing curtain-call style bows, blowing kisses to our wonderful audience!

"Let us go kick some spider butt, my fair lady." He said bowing, false courtesy oozing out of every pour in his body.

"Let's!" I said as we skipped off into the forest with everyone else dragging them selves along behind.

When we got to the part of the forest that I saw in my dream, Leo was amazed to see that it was by bunker 9 (which he found out meant like cabin 9, not eight others). So he went inside to get some explosives saying we should 'light this puppy up!' which we did, but not before Katie and Travis were seen trying to sneak up a tree.

All I have to say is that after we 'lit that puppy up,' there were spider guts EVERY-WHERE! Chiron figured that they'd just set up a boundary around that part of the forest until either the harpies (half fat old lady, half chicken on steroids) cleaned it up or other monsters came and devoured the carcasses.

**Im sorry that was kinda short. Its 3 pages on microsft word. And Tratie is my favourite couple and Im starting a fanfic about them! EEK!**

**Peace*Love*Prayer**

**-S'moreo1235**


	11. Chapter 11

**Disclaimer: if I owned PJO, I wouldn't be writing a fanfic now would I? **

**Chapter 11: Truth or Dare**

We got back and it was dark! I guess time kinda got away from us while we were rigging explosives, climbing trees with explosives, trying to stop Conner from filling Travis's pants with explosives. Yah, all in all there were a lot of explosives.

Anyways when we got back to the courtyard it was dark and we were tired, but there was no way in Hades that we would be able to sleep. So we all went into the only cabin we knew would be totally empty; Zeus's. When we walked in, it was so cold, and there was just a huge statue of Zeus. So we decided to go to the Poseidon cabin instead. At least it was a little homier.

Percy woke up Jackson and Caroline rummaging around looking for extra pillows for people to sit on. They didn't care and asked if they could play too, so we let them. We all went back to our cabins quickly to change out of armor and put on pyjamas. I walked in and grabbed my gray sweat-pants and a navy tank top. Hadley and I just changed in the cabin since everyone else was asleep, but we made Will go to the bathroom. When we were all finished, I felt eyes on me and whipped my head so hard I hit both Hadley and Will in the face with my ponytail. They said something like, "you whip _your_ hair back and forth." And "awesome, like Agent P!" I saw Meg lie down and pretend to sleep. I told her she could come with if she wanted, and of course she did. I loud whispered and two others got up to come as well. Since there were so many kids in our cabin, and I had only been there for about a week, I didn't know who they were. I think I recognized the girl as Tracy and the boy's name started with an 'H' I think. Oh! Henry? Wow, you know you can be ashamed of yourself when you don't know your own half brothers name. (Tsck! Tsck!)

We were walking back to Percy's place and saw twice as many kids come out of the cabins then when we had left. We were no excuse, with exactly twice as many. I'll put it in a list. Since we had started out with; Percy, Annabeth, Leo, Jacob, Jake, Piper, Conner, Travis, Carley, Clarisse, Katie, Miranda, Will, Hadley, and myself. We now had; Percy, Caroline, Jackson, Leo, Jacob, Jake, Piper, Drew, Conner, Travis, Chris, Carley, Teo, Clarisse, Sophie, Katie, Miranda, Isabelle, Henry, Tracy, Meg, Hadley, Will, and I. that means that the people that joined are; Caroline, Jackson, Drew, Chris, Teo, Sophie, Isabelle, Henry, Tracy, and Meg. That's ten more to our already existing 15, THAT MEANS TWENTY-FIVE PEOPLE! Luckily, smart people like Isabelle, Jake, Miranda, Drew, Chris, Clarisse, Sophie, and Tracy realized it would be no fun, turned around and headed back to cabin sweet cabin. That's eight gone. Which still meant 17 people to play, but I was strongly counting on people leaving in pairs of two (*wink wink*).

We all sat in a massive circle on the pillows Percy had provided. There weren't nearly enough. Katie and Travis, Carley and Conner, Teo and Meg, and Hadley and I were forced to share pillows with half our butts hanging off. Henry, Percy, and Will, being the gentlemen they are, sat on the cold floor. I went first.

"Teo," I said sharing that mischievious smile that runs in his blood as well as his family. "Truth… or _dare_?" I asked putting emphasis on the word _dare_.

"Uhm…" he said hesitantly, "Truth." Boos could be heard from where Conner and Travis were sitting.

"Cut him some slack!" said Meg. "He's a smart boy, Lilly is _good_ at dares."

"It's true." I shrugged.

"Get on with it." Said the impatient Carley.

"Alright! So, Teo, do you _enjoy_ sitting oh so closely to that half sister of mine hmm?" I said stroking my chin like they do in the detective movies.

"Ikerndafrikeit." He mumbled.

"What was that?" I asked dramatically.

"I kinda like it. Ok?" he said agitatedly turning a bright shade of crimson along with Meg. "Ok then. Conner, truth or dare?" said Teo, turning back to his usual skin color.

"Phst! I'm not a wimp like you! Dare!" he said practically in his face.

"Run around all the cabins twice…" said Teo.

"No biggy! Is that all you go-"

"In your boxers." Finished Teo looking very self-riteous.

Conner shrugged, took of his shirt and pants, handed them to Teo, (I couldn't help but notice Caroline blushing) and walked outside. He came running inside 30 seconds later.

"I've never run so fast in my life!" he said panting.

"You could have walked. Everyones asleep." Said a confused Carley.

Conner sat with a dumb expression on his face, "Oh," is all he could say. "Travis, truth or dare?" he said recovering quickly.

Travis looked at him like he was crazy. "Dare you moron."

"I dare you and Katie to go into the closet for 10 minutes." Katie's mouth fell at least two feet.

" NO!" she shouted. "Anything but that!" Travis just snickered. I think she thought it was a secret that she liked him, and vise versa. They stood up and went to Percy's closet that he had emptied of all clothes. After he locked the door, Annabeth dared Jacob to open the door early. He did and we found them just sitting on the ground, leaning against each other, playing twenty questions. I have to admit, not what I was expecting.

"You guys are a sheer disappointment." Said Jacob as he slammed the door on them.

"Lilly," said Jacob, the attention once again directed at me.

"Yeah fudge-wad." I countered.

"Truth or dare."

"mmm, dare." I said after consideration. What did he have on me anyways?

"I dare you, to…" he said mimicking my chin stroking. "…say 'down on the farm' after everything you say for the rest of the game." He said.

"WEAK." I said. "Down on the farm."

The Hermes cabin started cracking up. So I had Conner, Travis, Carley, and Teo laughing their sorry sneaky butts off at me. I got up and hit each of them on the head. Hard.

"Gods, Lilly you're insane!" groaned Conner.

"This is news to you?" I said doing a head roll with my hands on my hips. "Hadley, truth or dare?" I asked my sister.

"Dare, duh."

"I know this sounds lame, but I dare you to tell your best joke."

"You bet it sounds lame!" said Piper.

"Yo mamas so stupid that… she doesn't know that… E=mc2." Whispered Hadley. That got her a round of uncontrollable pity laughs.

"Come on!" I said. "Even I can do better than that!"

"I like to see you try, dear sister o' mine!" she said.

"Easy! How many Slytherin students does it take to change a light bulb?" I said using one of my best.

"How many?" she asked.

"One to screw it in, and 11 more to say that their father's connections with the ministry could have done it faster!" everyone cracked up except Hadley.

"No fair!" she yelled. "Mine was yo mama!"

"Fine, yo mamas so fat that when she goes to the beach people shout, 'Free Willy!'" everyone cracked up again. Hadley settled back down in defeat.

Travis and Katie were already back by now. "Katie, truth or dare?" asked Hadley.

"Truth." She said.

"Yeah like no one saw that coming." Muttered Henry.

"Shhh!" said Hadley. "Are you a vegetarian?" she said directed at Katie.

"No, why would I be a vegetarian?" answered Katie, receiving very confused looks. "Plus that was so lame!"

"Well I thought you'd be a vegetarian because you're the daughter of Demeter." Said Hadley. Katie nodded like she still didn't understand. "And Demeter is the goddess of the harvest." Said Hadley.

"Yeah, so what? That doesn't mean I can't enjoy bacon." Katie said insistently.

"Okay then." Said Hadley. "Katie it's your turn."

"uhm. Will, truth or dare." She asked.

"Dare." He responded. Katie snickered.

"I dare you, to go into the Ares cabin and decorate Clarisse's face with shaving cream, then take a picture." She said.

"Katie!" he said with a large gasp. "When did you become so evil?"

"Just go get your one way ticket to swirly-ville!" said Conner, shooing him off. "I mean… just go do it."

"I don't even have a camera." He said.

"I do!" I shot strait up, ran back to the cabin and grabbed my disposable.

"Thanks Lilly," he said giving me a death glare. "But this camera is yours." He said obviously trying to weasel himself out of it.

"It's okay bro!" I said patting him on the back. "You can keep it. It was cheap anyways." I said shrugging.

"B-b-but…" He stuttered.

"Just go." Said Percy opening the door and handing him the shaving cream. He walked out with a sad expression.

"WAIT!" he said bursting back through the door. We all groaned. "I must read the last will and testament of yours truly, William Michael Solace. I leave all my valuable belongings to my favorite sister," Meg, Hadley, and I looked up expectantly. "Hadley Eloquent." Meg and I were disappointed. "I leave all of my non valuable junk to my least favorite sister, Lilly Lament." I threw my hands up with a flustered expression on my face. "And I leave Brutus the frog, to Meg." I snickered at Meg, she hates frogs.

"Wait!" I said standing up. "What is classified as invaluable?"

"For example, clothes, books, and old DVDs." He said forlornly.

"Hah!" I yelled jumping up and doing the happy dance. "I get old DVDs!"

"Yeah but you can't use them." Said Hadley.

"Oh contraire monfraire." I said. "I, brought my laptop!" Hadley looked disappointed. "Don't worry, I'll share with you!" I said. She immediately uprighted herself with a smile.

Will exited with a horribly sad expression on his face.

"Hey Lilly," asked Carley.

"Yeah Carkey?" I retorted.

"Is the flash on on your camera?" she asked as all the blood drained from my face. "I'll take that as a yes." She sat back triumphantly.

A horrible, blood curdling, and strangled scream was heard from the direction of the Ares cabin. Will burst through the door. "Clarisse is coming!" he screamed.

"Well, good night." I said running out of the cabin. I swear we all cleared out of there faster than Buzz Light-Year on a sugar high.


	12. Chapter 12

**Wow! 2 in 1 day! Your welcome!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own it. There, you happy?**

**Chapter 12: we read a… book?**

The next morning was going as expected until Nico Di Angelo came sprinting towards us.

"Rachel…Cave…Book." He said panting fiercely.

"Whoa whoa! Calm down death breath." Said Hadley.

He righted himself and stared at her.

"It's literal." I said handing him a piece of Orbit.

"Thanks," he said taking the gum. "who are you?"

"Nice to meet you too!" I said. He rolled his eyes. "I'm Lilly, daughter of Apollo not Demeter."

"Well, I be Nico, son of Hades." He said putting an edge on each word. "Anyways, Rachel wants lots of people in her cave, now. Just two or three from each cabin." He added.

"We'll go find Will and meet her up there." Said Hadley as we walked off to find Will at archery (shocker there!), and headed up toward her cave.

The entrance was covered in a deep purple curtain with golden sparkles flecked across the fabric. 'Το Μαντείο των Δελφών' (The Oracle of Delphi) was carved into the rock above. We walked in and it was awesome! There was a circle of beanbags on the floor and the walls were lined with old-school video games like pac-man and frogger.

Nico entered shortly after us with Jason, Thalia, Piper, Drew, Carley, Conner, Travis, Katie, Sophie, Isaac, Percy, Annabeth, Malcolm, Clarisse, Leo, Jake, Grover, Richy, and a few others I didn't recognize.

We sat down on the beanbags as Rachel told us what was happening. She said that a book just fell through her roof with a note attached. It read:

**Dear Demigods, Satyrs, and my lovely Oracle,**

"Some times I think our dad likes you more than us." I said interrupting as thunder boomed over-head. "Yeah! You hear that dad? Good!" I said as I settled down again and she continued reading.

**I have made a book series counting down your adventures beginning with when Zeus's master bolt was stolen. I think the mortal world would like to know how demigods live if they choose to believe it.**

**The awesome sun god and proud father of a newly discovered demigod,**

**Apollo**

"That's better!" I said, more pleased.

Annabeth picked up the book and started read.

**"I Accidentally Vaporize my Pre-Algebra Teacher,"** Annabeth read

**Look, I didn't want to be a half-blood.**

"Who does?" Travis said

All the demigods nodded in agreement

**If you're reading this because you think you might be one, my advice is:**

"Cover your ears!" the Stolls yelled

"Your not the best person to give advise Seaweed Brain" Annabeth said

"I know that" Percy said

**Close this book right now. Believe whatever lie your mom or dad told you about your birth, and try to lead a normal life.**

"That won't work" Thalia said

**Being a half-blood is dangerous. It's scary. Most of the time, it gets you killed in painful, nasty ways.**

The demigods nodded in agreement

**If you're a normal kid, reading this because you think its fiction, great. Read on. I envy you for being able to believe that none of this ever happened.**

**But if you recognize yourself in these pages—if you feel something stirring inside—stop reading immediately. You might be one of us. And once you know that, it's only a matter of time before **_**they **_**sense it too, and they'll come for you.**

**Don't say I didn't warn you.**

**My name is Percy Jackson.**

"Noooo It's Peter Johnson" Thalia said sarcastically

**I'm twelve years old. Until a ****few ****months ago, I was a boarding student at Yancy Academy, a private school for troubled kids in upstate New York.**

**Am I a troubled kid?**

"Yes" everyone in the room said

While Percy pouted

**Yeah. You could say that.**

"Even you agree" Rachel said

**I could start at any point in my short miserable life to prove it, but things really started going bad last May, when our sixth-grade class took a field trip to Manhattan— twenty-eight mental-case kids and two teachers on a yellow school bus, heading to the Metropolitan Museum of Art to look at ancient Greek and Roman stuff.**

**I know—it sounds like torture.**

"No it doesn't" Annabeth said "It's interesting and besides it's your life"

"I know that now" Percy said

**Most Yancy field trips were.**

**But Mr. Brunner, our Latin teacher, was leading this trip, so I had hopes.**

**Mr. Brunner was this middle-aged guy in a motorized wheelchair. He had thinning hair and a scruffy beard and a frayed tweed jacket, which always smelled like coffee.**

"Sounds like Chiron" Rachel said

"That's because it is Chiron" Percy said

"Oh"

**You wouldn't think he'd be cool, but he told stories and jokes and let us play games in class. He also had this awesome collection of Roman armor and weapons, so he was the only teacher whose class didn't put me to sleep. I hoped the trip would be okay. At least, I hoped that for once I wouldn't get in trouble.**

"You'll get in trouble won't you?" I asked

"Yup"

**Boy was I wrong.**

**See, bad things happen to me on field trips. Like at my fifth-grade school, when we went to the Saratoga battlefield, I had this accident with a Revolutionary War cannon. I wasn't aiming for the school bus, but of course I got expelled anyway.**

Everyone was laughing

"Why are you not our Brother?" the Stoll's asked

**And before that, at my fourth-grade school, when we took a behind-the-scenes tour of the Marine World shark pool, I sort of hit the wrong lever on the catwalk and our class took an unplanned swim.**

Everyone was laughing while Percy pouted

"Seaweed Brain" Annabeth said she loves saying his nick name again especially since his with her now.

"Sort of?" Thalia asked

"What were you aiming for anyway?" Rachel asked

But there was no answer and Annabeth continued to read

**And the time before that... Well, you get the idea.**

**This trip, I was determined to be good.**

"And you jinx it" Nico said

**All the way into the city, I put up with Nancy Bobofit, the freckly, redheaded kleptomaniac girl, hitting my best friend Grover** **In the back of the head with chunks of peanut butter-and-ketchup sandwich.**

"Yuck" Katie said "How dare she do that to you?"

"If I ever see that girl I will seriously injure her" Thalia growled

Everyone nodded in agreement

"Thanks guys" Grover said "nice to know you really care about me"

"Of course we do Goat boy" Travis said "You're the best"

"The best Satyr ever?" Richy asked looking disappointed.

"No, not _ever_." I said giving my best friend a bone-crushing hug.

"Thanks Lilly!" he said.

**Grover was an easy target. He was scrawny. He cried when he got frustrated. He must've been held back several grades, because he was the only sixth grader with acne and the start of a wispy beard on his chin. On top of all that, he was crippled.**

"Ouch." Grover said faking hurt

"Sorry." Percy said

**He had a note excusing him from PE for the rest of his life because he had some kind of muscular disease in his legs. He walked funny, like every step hurt him, but don't let that fool you. You should've seen him run when it was enchilada day in the cafeteria.**

"Way to blow your cover Goat Boy." Thalia said

"Sorry," Grover apologized "But they were really good."

**Anyway, Nancy Bobofit was throwing wads of sandwich that stuck in his curly brown hair, and she knew I couldn't do anything back to her because I was already on probation. The headmaster had threatened me with death**

"Death?" I asked.

**by in-school suspension**

"Oh" I said.

**if anything bad, embarrassing, or even mildly entertaining happened on this trip.**

"Mildly entertaining?" Annabeth asked

Percy just shrugged

**"I'm going to kill her," I mumbled.**

"Do it!" Clarisse yelled

And everyone agreed.

**Grover tried to calm me down. "It's okay. I like peanut butter."**

"But not on your head, mixed with kethup." Piper said

**He dodged another piece of Nancy's lunch.**

**"That's it." I started to get up, but Grover pulled me back to my seat.**

"Why'd you pulled him back?" Clarisse and Thalia asked.

**"You're already on probation," he reminded me. "You know who'll get blamed if anything happens."**

**Looking back on it, I wish I'd decked Nancy Bobofit right then and there.**

"Yeah you should've." Thalia said

**In-school suspension would've been nothing compared to the mess I was about to get myself into.**

"What kind of mess?" Hadley asked.

"You'll see." Percy said

**Mr. Brunner led the museum tour.**

**He rode up front in his wheelchair, guiding us through the big echoey galleries, past marble statues and glass cases full of really old black-and-orange pottery.**

**It blew my mind that this stuff had survived for two thousand, three thousand years.**

"More." Annabeth said.

**He gathered us around a thirteen-foot-tall stone column with a big sphinx on the top, and started telling us how it was a grave marker, a**_**stele,**_**for a girl about our age. He told us about the carvings on the sides. I was trying to listen to what he had to say, because it was kind of interesting,**

"Wow you actually listened!" Thalia said.

"I listen," Percy said. "When it's interesting, and besides it's my life."

"Hey that's what I said." Annabeth said.

"So?"

**but everybody around me was talking, and every time I told them to shut up, the other teacher chaperone, Mrs. Dodd's, would give me the evil eye.**

"Why?" Hadley asked "All you were trying to do is learn!"

**Mrs. Dodds was this little math teacher from Georgia who always wore a black leather jacket, even though she was fifty years old. She looked mean enough to ride a Harley right into your locker. She had come to Yancy halfway through the year, when our last math teacher had a nervous breakdown.**

"You caused the nervous breakdown?" Connor asked

"No." Percy said

**From her first day, Mrs. Dodds loved Nancy Bobofit and figured I was devil spawn.**

"That's not right." Connor said. "The devil's Spawn is Nico."

"Agreed." Thalia said.

"Hey!" Nico yelled.

**She would point her crooked finger at me and say, "Now, honey," real sweet, and I knew I was going to get after-school detention for a month.**

**One time, after she'd made me erase answers out of old math workbooks until midnight, I told Grover I didn't think Mrs. Dodds was human. He looked at me, real serious, and said, "You're absolutely right."**

"Way to blow your cover." Clarisse said

**Mr. Brunner kept talking about Greek funeral art.**

**Finally, Nancy Bobofit snickered something about the naked guy on the steel, and I turned around and said, "Will you **_**shut up**_**?"**

**It came out louder than I meant it to.**

"Of course it did." Annabeth said.

**The whole group laughed. Mr. Brunner stopped his story.**

**"Mr. Jackson," he said, "did you have a comment?"**

**My face was totally red. I said, "No, sir."**

**Mr. Brunner pointed to one of the pictures on the stele. "Perhaps you'll tell us what this picture represents?**

"Busted" the Stoll's said in a sing-song voice

**I looked at the carving, and felt a flush of relief, because I actually recognized it.**

**"That's Kronos eating his kids, right?"**

**"Yes," Mr. Brunner said, obviously not satisfied.**

**"And he **_**did **_**this because ..."**

**"Well..." I racked my brain to remember. "Kronos was the king god,**

"god?" Annabeth asked.

"I corrected myself." Percy defended.

**And—"**

**"God?" Mr. Brunner asked.**

**"Titan,"**

"See?" Percy said

**I corrected myself. "And ... he didn't trust his kids, who were the gods. So, um, Kronos ate them, right? But his wife hid baby Zeus, and gave Kronos a rock to eat instead.**

"So dad looks like a rock?" Thalia said.

Thunder boomed.

Thalia looked up.

"Sorry." she said.

**And later, when Zeus grew up, he tricked his dad, Kronos, into barfing up his brothers and sisters—"**

**"Eeew!" said one of the girls behind me.**

**"—and so there was this big fight between the gods and the Titans," I continued, "and the gods won."**

"You've summed up a lot of fighting in just a few sentences." Annabeth said.

**Some snickers from the group.**

"Why are they snickering?" Leo asked

**Behind me, Nancy Bobofit mumbled to a friend, "Like we're going to use this in real life.**

"Well if you're a demigod, yes you will use it in real life." Piper said

**Like it's going to say on our job applications, 'Please explain why Kronos ate his kids.'"**

"Well if you're going to be a teacher and teach about Greek Mythology it's going to appear on your job application." Carley said.

**"And why, Mr. Jackson," Brunner said, "to paraphrase Miss Bobofit's excellent question, does this matter in real life?"**

"Busted." The Stolls said.

**"Busted," Grover muttered.**

"Oh my gods we think like a goat. Oh no!" the Stolls yelled running around the room

Katie and Rachael got up from their chair and slapped them in the head, minus Carley.

**"Shut up," Nancy hissed her face even brighter red than her hair.**

**At least Nancy got packed, too. Mr. Brunner was the only one who ever caught her saying anything wrong. He had radar ears.**

"Yeah, those radar ears ruined a lot of good pranks." Connor said

And Travis and Carley nodded in agreement.

**I thought about his question, and shrugged. "I don't know, sir."**

"Of course you don't know." Annabeth said.

"You don't know anything." Thalia continued.

"Hey I know a lot of things." Percy said.

"Like what?" Nico asked.

But Annabeth continued reading before Percy could answer.

**"I see." Mr. Brunner looked disappointed. "Well, half credit, Mr. Jackson. Zeus did indeed feed Kronos a mixture of mustard and wine, which made him disgorge his other five children, who, of course, being immortal gods, had been living and growing up completely undigested in the Titan's stomach. The gods defeated their father, sliced him to pieces with his own scythe, and scattered his remains in Tartarus, the darkest part of the Underworld. On that happy note, it's time for lunch. Mrs. Dodds, would you lead us back outside?"**

"Happy Note?" Piper asked.

**The class drifted off, the girls holding their stomachs, the guys pushing each other around and acting like doofuses.**

**Grover and I were about to follow when Mr. Brunner said, "Mr. Jackson."**

**I knew that was coming.**

**I told Grover to keep going. Then I turned toward Mr. Brunner. "Sir?"**

**Mr. Brunner had this look that wouldn't let you go— intense brown eyes that could've been a thousand years old and had seen everything.**

"Yup, definitely everything." Richy mumbled.

And all the Greek Demigods nodded in agreement.

**"You must learn the answer to my question," Mr. Brunner told me.**

**"About the Titans?"**

**"About real life. And how your studies apply to it."**

**"Oh."**

"Oh?" Thalia asked. "That's all you can say?"

**"What you learn from me," he said, "is vitally important. I expect you to treat it as such. I will accept only the best from you, Percy Jackson."**

**I wanted to get angry, this guy pushed me so hard.**

"It's all for the best seaweed brain." Annabeth said.

"I know that now." Percy said.

**I mean, sure, it was kind of cool on tournament days, when he dressed up in a suit of Roman armor and shouted: "What ho!"**

"What Ho?" Will asked.

**and challenged us, sword-point against chalk, to run to the board and name every Greek and Roman person who had ever**_**lived,**_**and their mother, and what god they worshipped.**

**But Mr. Brunner expected me to be as good as everybody else, despite the fact that I have dyslexia and attention deficit disorder and I had never made above a C— in my life. No—he didn't expect me to be **_**as good; **_**he expected me to be **_**better. **_**And I just couldn't learn all those names and facts, much less spell them correctly.**

"You're not the only one." Connor said.

And everyone nodded in agreement.

**I mumbled something about trying harder, while Mr. Brunner took one long sad look at the stele, like he'd been at this girl's funeral.**

"He probably had." Grover said.

**He told me to go outside and eat my lunch.**

**The class gathered on the front steps of the museum, where we could watch the foot traffic along Fifth Avenue.**

**Overhead, a huge storm was brewing, with clouds blacker than I'd ever seen over the city. I figured maybe it was global warming or something, because the weather all across New York State had been weird since Christmas.**

"Why is dad mad?" Jason asked.

**We'd had massive snow storms, flooding, wildfires from lightning strikes. I wouldn't have been surprised if this was a hurricane blowing in.**

"Wow Zeus really is mad, I remember that." Will said.

**Nobody else seemed to notice. Some of the guys were pelting pigeons with Lunchables crackers. Nancy Bobofit was trying to pickpocket something from a lady's purse,**

Everyone looked at the children of Hermes.

"I hope she's not our sister." Carley said.

"And even if she was," Travis said "I hope dad doesn't claim her."

**And, of course, Mrs. Dodds wasn't seeing a thing.**

**Grover and I sat on the edge of the fountain, away from the others. We thought that maybe if we did that, everybody wouldn't know we were from**_**that**_**school—the school for loser freaks who couldn't make it elsewhere.**

**"Detention?" Grover asked.**

**"Nah," I said. "Not from Brunner. I just wish he'd lay off me sometimes. I mean—I'm not a genius."**

"Of course not," Travis said "cause if you were a Genius…"

"…you'd be a son of Athena…" Connor continued

"…and then you can't date Annabeth." Carley finished.

"…the love of your life." the three said together.

The couple blushed crimson.

**Grover didn't say anything for a while. Then, when I thought he was going to give me some deep philosophical comment to make me feel better, he said, "Can I have your apple?"**

"Really Grover?" Katie asked

**I didn't have much of an appetite, so I let him take it.**

**I watched the stream of cabs going down Fifth Avenue, and thought about my mom's apartment, only a little ways uptown from where we sat. I hadn't seen her since Christmas. I wanted so bad to jump in a taxi and head home. She'd hug me and be glad to see me, but she'd be disappointed, too. She'd send me right back to Yancy, remind me that I had to try harder, even if this was my sixth school in six years and I was probably going to be kicked out again. I wouldn't be able to stand that sad look she'd give me.**

"You really love your mom don't you?" I asked.

"Yup." Percy said.

"She's awesome." Nico said.

"You've met her?" I asked.

"Yup."

"She's magnificent." Thalia said.

"You've met her too?" Hadley asked.

"Yeah," Thalia said. "She's a cool mom."

Percy smiled.

**Mr. Brunner parked his wheelchair at the base of the handicapped ramp. He ate celery while he read a paperback novel. A red umbrella stuck up from the back of his chair, making it look like a motorized cafe table.**

**I was about to unwrap my sandwich when Nancy Bobofit appeared in front of me with her ugly friends—I guess she'd gotten tired of stealing from the tourists—and dumped her half-eaten lunch in Grover's lap.**

"Ok where can I find that girl?" Thalia asked angrily.

**"Oops."**

"Oops?" Hadley asked.

**She grinned at me with her crooked teeth. Her freckles were orange, as if somebody had spray-painted her face with liquid Cheetos.**

**I tried to stay cool. The school counselor had told me a million times, "Count to ten, get control of your temper." But I was so mad my mind went blank. A wave roared in my ears.**

**I don't remember touching her, but the next thing I knew, Nancy was sitting on her butt in the fountain, screaming, "Percy pushed me!"**

"Cool!" Leo exclaimed. "Dude, your powers are awesome!"

"Yup, they sure are" Percy said.

**Mrs. Dodds materialized next to us.**

**Some of the kids were whispering: "Did you see—"**

**"—the water—"**

**"—like it grabbed her—"**

"Awesome." Leo said.

**I didn't know what they were talking about. All I knew was that I was in trouble again.**

**As soon as Mrs. Dodds was sure poor little Nancy was okay,**

"Poor?" I asked.

"Little?" Hadley asked.

**Promising to get her a new shirt at the museum gift shop, etc., etc., Mrs. Dodds turned on me. There was a triumphant fire in her eyes, as if I'd done something she'd been waiting for all semester. "Now, honey—"**

"What is it with the honey?" Leo asked. "Is she half bee or something?"

"She's definitely something". Percy asked.

"Monster." Nico shuddered.

"Yup." Grover said.

**"I know," I grumbled. "A month erasing workbooks."**

"No Percy do not and I mean do not guess your punishment, it just makes it worse." Connor said.

**That wasn't the right thing to say.**

"Yup." Jason said.

**"Come with me," Mrs. Dodds said.**

**"Wait!" Grover yelped. "It was me. **_**I **_**pushed her."**

"You're a good friend Grover." Will said.

"Thanks." Grover said.

"See?" Thalia said. "That's why you're the best satyr ever."

"The best." Nico added.

"I thought we've been over this?" Richy and I said.

**I stared at him, stunned. I couldn't believe he was trying to cover for me. Mrs. Dodds scared Grover to death.**

**She glared at him so hard his whiskery chin trembled.**

**"I don't think so, Mr. Underwood," she said.**

**"But—"**

**"You—**_**will**_—**stay—here."**

"That's harsh." Piper said.

**Grover looked at me desperately.**

**"It's okay, man," I told him. "Thanks for trying."**

**"Honey," Mrs. Dodds barked at me. "**_**Now**_**."**

"Ok I'm really getting tiered with the honey thing." Jason said.

**Nancy Bobofit smirked.**

**I gave her my deluxe I'll-kill-you-later stare.**

"Oh real scary." Annabeth said sarcastically.

"Oh, it is." Travis and Nico said.

Percy smirked.

**Then I turned to face Mrs. Dodds, but she wasn't there. She was standing at the museum entrance, way at the top of the steps, gesturing impatiently at me to come on.**

"How'd she get there so fast?" Leo asked.

**How'd she get there so fast?**

"Annabeth why'd you copy me?" Leo asked.

"I didn't copy you look." Annabeth said as she showed Leo the Book.

"So Leo thinks like Percy." Piper said.

**I have moments like that a lot, when my brain falls asleep or something, and the next thing I know I've missed something, as if a puzzle piece fell out of the universe and left me staring at the blank place behind it. The school counselor told me this was part of the ADHD, my brain misinterpreting things.**

"Our brain misinterpreting things?" Jason said. "More like the mortal's brains misinterpreting things."

"All because of the mist." Katie said.

"Stupid Mist." I said.

**I wasn't so sure.**

**I went after Mrs. Dodds.**

**Halfway up the steps, I glanced back at Grover. He was looking pale, cutting his eyes between me and Mr. Brunner, like he wanted Mr. Brunner to notice what was going on, but Mr. Brunner was absorbed in his novel.**

"So much for _'Keeping an eye on you'_" Annabeth said.

**I looked back up. Mrs. Dodds had disappeared again. She was now inside the building, at the end of the entrance hall.**

**Okay, I thought. She's going to make me buy a new shirt for Nancy at the gift shop.**

"I don't think that's her plan." Nico said.

**But apparently that wasn't the plan.**

"HA!" Nico said. "I was right!"

**I followed her deeper into the museum. When I finally caught up to her, we were back in the Greek and Roman section.**

**Except for us, the gallery was empty.**

**Mrs. Dodds stood with her arms crossed in front of a big marble frieze of the Greek gods. She was making this weird noise in her throat, like growling.**

"Oh no." Hadley said.

**Even without the noise, I would've been nervous. It's weird being alone with a teacher, especially Mrs. Dodds. Something about the way she looked at the frieze, as if she wanted to pulverize it...**

"Maybe she did…" Nico said.

**"You've been giving us problems, honey," she said.**

"Again with the Honey!" Leo said.

**I did the safe thing. I said, "Yes, ma'am."**

**She tugged on the cuffs of her leather jacket. "Did you really think you would get away with it?"**

"Get away with what?" Rachel asked.

**The look in her eyes was beyond mad. It was evil.**

"Definitely evil." Nico said.

**She's a teacher, I thought nervously. It's not like she's going to hurt me.**

"Think again Seaweed Brain." Annabeth said.

**I said, "I'll—I'll try harder, ma'am."**

**Thunder shook the building.**

**"We are not fools, Percy Jackson," Mrs. Dodds said. "It was only a matter of time before we found you out. Confess, and you will suffer less pain."**

"Confess?" I asked.

**I didn't know what she was talking about.**

"Neither do we." Piper said.

**All I could think of was that the teachers must've found the illegal stash of candy I'd been selling out of my dorm room.**

"Seriously why are you not our brother?" Travis said.

**Or maybe they'd realized I got my essay on **_**Tom Sawyer **_**from the Internet without ever reading the book and now they were going to take away my grade. Or worse, they were going to make me read the book.**

"Why is that worse?" Annabeth asked.

"Dyslexia." Percy said.

"Oh," I said.

**"Well?" she demanded.**

**"Ma'am, I don't..."**

**"Your time is up," she hissed.**

**Then the weirdest thing happened. Her eyes began to glow like barbecue coals. Her fingers stretched, turning into talons. Her jacket melted into large, leathery wings. She wasn't human. She was a shriveled hag with bat wings and claws and a mouth full of yellow fangs, and she was about to slice me to ribbons.**

"Kindly ones?" Thalia asked.

"Yup." Annabeth said, emphasisng the 'p'.

**Then things got even stranger.**

**Mr. Brunner, who'd been out in front of the museum a minute before, wheeled his chair into the doorway of the gallery, holding a pen in his hand.**

**"What ho, Percy!" he shouted, and tossed the pen through the air.**

"Pen?" Leo asked. "What will you do with a pen? Write on her Face?"

**Mrs. Dodds lunged at me.**

**With a yelp, I dodged and felt talons slash the air next to my ear. I snatched the ballpoint pen out of the air, but when it hit my hand, it wasn't a pen anymore. It was a sword—Mr. Brunner's bronze sword, which he always used on tournament day.**

"Cool!" Leo said "It's like your coin, Jason."

"Yup." Jason said.

**Mrs. Dodds spun toward me with a murderous look in her eyes.**

**My knees were jelly. My hands were shaking so bad I almost dropped the sword.**

"Wimp." Clarisse said.

**She snarled, "Die, honey!"**

"Again with the honey." Leo said.

**And she flew straight at me.**

**Absolute terror ran through my body. I did the only thing that came naturally: I swung the sword.**

"Naturally?" Piper asked.

**The metal blade hit her shoulder and passed clean through her body as if she were made of water. **_**Hisss!**_

**Mrs. Dodds was a sand castle in a power fan. She exploded into yellow powder, vaporized on the spot, leaving nothing but the smell of sulfur and a dying screech and a chill of evil in the air, as if those two glowing red eyes were still watching me.**

**I was alone.**

**There was a ballpoint pen in my hand.**

**Mr. Brunner wasn't there. Nobody was there but me.**

"Nobody." Grover said with an unmistakable glint in his eyes.

Percy, Annabeth, Grover and Clarisse looked at each other and burst out laughing.

"Why are you guys laughing?" Jason asked.

"Nothing, it's just something about my second year at camp." Percy said, whipping tears from his eyes.

**My hands were still trembling. My lunch must've been contaminated with magic mushrooms or something.**

"Magic Mushroom?" Reyna asked.

**Had I imagined the whole thing?**

"No." Katie said.

**I went back outside.**

**It had started to rain.**

**Grover was sitting by the fountain, a museum map tented over his head. Nancy Bobofit was still standing there, soaked from her swim in the fountain, grumbling to her ugly friends. When she saw me, she said, "I hope Mrs. Kerr whipped your butt."**

"Who?" Will asked.

**I said, "Who?"**

**"Our **_**teacher.**_ **Duh!"**

"Ok I'm confused." Jake said.

"It's the mist." Annabeth said.

**I blinked. We had no teacher named Mrs. Kerr. I asked Nancy what she was talking about.**

**She just rolled her eyes and turned away.**

**I asked Grover where Mrs. Dodds was.**

**He said, "Who?"**

**But he paused first, and he wouldn't look at me, so I thought he was messing with me.**

**"Not funny, man," I told him. "This is serious."**

**Thunder boomed overhead.**

**I saw Mr. Brunner sitting under his red umbrella, reading his book, as if he'd never moved.**

**I went over to him.**

**He looked up, a little distracted. "Ah, that would be my pen. Please bring your own writing utensil in the future, Mr. Jackson."**

**I handed Mr. Brunner his pen. I hadn't even realized I was still holding it.**

**"Sir," I said, "where's Mrs. Dodds?"**

**He stared at me blankly. "Who?"**

**"The other chaperone. Mrs. Dodds. The pre-algebra teacher."**

**He frowned and sat forward, looking mildly concerned. "Percy, there is no Mrs. Dodds on this trip. As far as I know, there has never been a Mrs. Dodds at Yancy Academy. Are you feeling all right?"**

"No, I am definitely not feeling alright." Percy said.

"You do know you're talking to a book right?" Annabeth asked.

Percy blushed.

"Anyway that's the end of the chapter." Annabeth said. "Who wants to read next?"

"I'll read." Thalia said.

And that is how the rest of our day went.


End file.
